Veteran Ghanaian photographer James Barnor has been named the 20th recipient of the Outstanding Contribution to Photography Award by the World Photography Organisation.
The organisation announced that the 97-year-old photographer will receive the honour at the Sony World Photography Awards ceremony in London on April 15, 2027.
As part of the recognition, James Barnor’s photographs and archival materials will be exhibited at London’s Somerset House from April 16 to May 3, 2027.
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Reflecting on the award, Barnor said he never imagined his work in photography would take him across two continents.
“When I opened my studio in Accra, I never imagined that my work would take me so far: through Ghana’s independence, to London and back again. My camera became my companion, and I have never regretted it,” he said.
Over the course of a career that has spanned six decades, James Barnor has documented beauty, fashion and everyday social life within Black communities, producing street styled images that capture important moments in Ghanaian and African cultural history.
Born in 1929, Frederick Seton James Barnor first developed an interest in photography at the age of 17 while teaching basket weaving at a missionary school, where the headmaster gave him a camera to experiment with.
He later deepened that interest under the guidance of his cousin, J.P.D. Dodoo, with whom he apprenticed and learned the craft.
Before establishing his renowned Ever Young studio in Jamestown in1953, Barnor worked at Ghana’s Daily Graphic as its first staff photographer. In that role, he documented political rallies, street parades and significant moments leading to Ghana’s independence in 1957.
Widely regarded as a pioneer of African photography, Barnor’s work has been exhibited internationally, including at London’s Serpentine Gallery, the Detroit Institute of Arts and New York’s Museum of Modern Art.
His photographs are also held in the collections of institutions including Tate, the National Portrait Gallery and the Centre Pompidou in Paris.
